MEDIAWATCH: Could UK  Prime Minister could face jail time?

 
1,152Views 0Comments Posted 13/09/2019


UK  Prime Minister Boris Johnson could face a prison sentence if he fails to comply with legislation requiring him to delay Brexit, according to the former director of public prosecutions reports The Week

Lord MacDonald says the prime minister risks being found in contempt of court if he ignores the terms of a bill designed to prevent a no-deal withdrawal that passed through Parliament last week and became law on Monday, reports Metro 

MacDonald said: “It is by convention that if you are found guilty of defying a court order then you are jailed.”

In a letter to Conservative Party members this week, Johnson wrote: “They just passed a law that would force me to beg Brussels for an extension to the Brexit deadline. This is something I will never do.”

But former attorney general Dominic Grieve - who was sacked for rebelling against the Government by voting in favor of the bill - said: “A prime minister is subject to the law of the land just like anybody else.

“If he were to attempt to ignore it, the Government would be taken to court and he would be ordered to send the letter [to the EU].

“And if he didn’t send the letter, he would be sent to prison for contempt.”

Downing Street has maintained that the PM will neither resign nor comply with the order to delay Brexit, but has failed to explain how this apparent contradiction could be reconciled, says The Guardian.

As the Financial Times notes: “This is unprecedented; a prime minister has never gone rogue like this before.”

Johnson could also face further legal strife after Scotland’s highest court this week ruled that his advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament was unlawful.

Delivering their judgment, a panel of three judges said the PM’s advice to the Queen was an attempt to “stymie” Parliament “and is thus null and of no effect”.

Len McCluskey, head of the Unite union, has warned that Johnson could find himself behind bars next time he crosses the border, reports The Independent

“It is quite extraordinary what the Scottish courts have ruled,”  said McCluskey. “My advice to the prime minister is don’t go up to Scotland, you’re liable to face a citizen’s arrest, so he’d best keep in his bunker somewhere in either Eton or Westminster.” 



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